Page 49 of Poetry of Flowers

His gaze softened, like just now he realized what he had done.

No no no, that wasn’t my intention, I just wanted him to know.

God, I hadn’t even been mean, but I feel like I was.

“Oh no you didn’t but-”

“Yeah, you did, but just don’t do it again, man.”

Now he could open his mouth? I gave Kayden a death stare.

“Alright,” Theo nodded, “Thank you for letting me know.”

Smiling at him, I nodded too.

The hard thing for me with Theo was that I never knew how he would react. He was unpredictable to me.

“Are we nearly there yet?” Theo changed the subject.

“Three more hours and then a ten-minute walk to the motel.” Kayden replied.

“Did I sleep that long?”

Has Autumn been gone that long?

“You needed it,” Kayden answered.

ChapterFifteen

KAYDEN

The next stop was ours. It was already dark outside and everyone needed a bit of fresh air. Sitting on top of each other for seven hours could get a bit strenuous, especially when someone left in a strop. She’d been gone for around six hours. Tillie had already called her and walked around the train looking for her, but unsuccessfully. Autumn had probably disappeared into a corner of self-pity. At least she knew Spokane was our stop, so she should know when to get off.

The entirety of our journey I spent trying to find out more about my biological father and his family online. It was so easy. Honestly, I was glad I wasn’t born in the twentieth century. Without my own phone and computer, I would have never been able to discover this much. I already knew that Clark Bressett worked for an architectural firm in the center of Chicago. It looked pretty impressive on the street view I found on Google Maps.

He also seemed to enjoy sharing his private life online, who even does that in their mid-forties? My mom didn’t even have social media on her phone because she thought it was the reason why so many teenagers drank and took drugs.

Joke’s on you Mom, I drank because it was fun at parties.

Well... It was fun as long as you didn’t puke your guts out, which was what happened to me during spring break because I tried cocktails for the first time when I visited my brother, and we went to a college party together.

Till this day, I have nightmares of those pretty drinks.

Clark’s daughter Hope seemed like a nice girl. Her feed was an open book, so everyone could basically look right into her soul. She posts around three times a week like she was some kind of influencer, although her three hundred followers said something different.

Her smile made me imagine that she had a happy life with her family and friends. The possibility that I could have had this life too made me feel weird. Faith wouldn’t be here today, I reminded myself. There is no way I would ever put myself over my little sister. Faith might be annoying sometimes, but I would never wish her away.

There was nothing much about his wife, only a few pictures linked to a private profile, but I didn’t want to risk sending her a request.

Soon I would see all of them in person, soon everything would change.

“I’m going to look for Autumn; the next stop is ours,” I told my friends as I stood up. My phone vibrated in my hand. It was my brother. Mom had already called me nine times, but I didn’t want to talk to her. Not yet.

“Yeah?” I answered the phone while I made my way through the aisle.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Nash’s voice almost popped my eardrum.

“Not so loud, brother, I need my hearing.”

---